I have never raised a German Shepard Puppy before

Famous last words?

Basically, what I have discovered is that this puppy is the smartest dog I have ever met and it's kind of disconcerting to be outwitted at times by an 8 week old puppy of ANY breed including Mongrel. Like a wolf this little puppy is studying my wife and I all the time ingratiating him myself into our lives. At the same time if I don't wear at least Crocs around the house (that he cannot bit through) my toes of my feet are like little sausages that move that he tries to nip or eat. This is a little hard to get used to. Today he decided to bit electrical cords in the living room and my wife was worried he would be electrocuted, especially the two lazy boy chairs built into one of our couches for watching TV in the living room with a 60 inch flatscreen and sound system. So, I was sort of worried about this too. We were starting to realize why the breeder had places outside more like large cages for storing his prize German Shepards for breeding and for showing. Because this breed of dog is incredibly smart sort of like how a Wolf is smart which is sort of off the charts. Also, this little guy has huge feet so I realize he is going to be at least 85 to 95 pounds as an adult or more. So, having him safe around my wife and I and other people and pets is important too. So, my wife and I are learning as we go so to speak.

However, we have raised dogs since around 2000 when we got my German Shepard-Border Collie mix at about 17 months who was the smarted dog I ever met when he was about 17 months old. I'm thinking someone in the military locally was deployed overseas and had to leave him and so we adopted him. He knew about 300 words when we met him so he was amazing after I stopped him from stealing a pizza off the stove top one day. This Alpha move made me realize I could actually handle this brilliant dog of 75 to 85 pounds. Later we got (after he passed away in 2016) a Yellow lab who was a rescue dog and I think he was over 12 or 14 when we got him because of all the white on his face. He was about 95 pounds and I was the only one who could handle him on a regular leash because he was incredibly strong and muscular dog. he lived to chase tennis balls in the forest or on the beach with me.  So, he lasted as a companion for our female Corgi who was born around 2003 or 2005 and passed away also in 2018. A couple of months later our Yellow lab passed away too from a tumor on his spleen that exploded and had to be put to sleep in late spring 2018. So, this puppy is a beginning replacement because we like to own two dogs at a time so they have company. so, within 2 years we expect to adopt a female corgi puppy like my daughter had before from about age 8 to when she passed away in 2018. I think when my daughter graduated from her private high school in 2014 and moved away to Washington for college then that the corgi wasn't a happy camper because she saw my daughter as her very own puppy that was gone. So, in some ways I wasn't surprised when she passed away at around 15 plus years of age last year.

So, this is a new experience because I have never raised a German Shepard puppy before, just a corgi female. And it's true they are a lot of work, but then again my wife and I are retired and it's surprising the amount of work but also the amount of joy a puppy can bring into your life. But, be prepared for night time howling especially if you crate train them in a kennel so they don't destroy your house while you are asleep. Especially between the hours of 2 am and 6 am ongoing.

:)